Student Support
The need
The activities under Student Support will provide support to foreign students from the start of their studies in Makassar until they graduate. But there is a need for a different type of support to Indonesian students after they have obtained their Bachelor’s Degree (S1 in local parlance).
Many young professionals in Makassar are looking for employment. They have obtained a university degree but often lack practical software skills (i.e. ability to efficiently use the software tools in the Microsoft Office suite). The lack of such skills is a handicap because potential employers need graduates who already master such skills. Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. For over two decades, Microsoft has made available high-quality “hands-on” training materials called the Step-by-Step series. These materials have been designed by top-notch training professionals to facilitate “Self-Learning”, which is recognised as being the most effective method of acquiring software skills.
When young professionals are interviewed for jobs, potential employers will be favourably impressed that they are following these practical courses to improve their skills, and this will improve their chances of getting hired.
“Hands-on Self-learning”- the concept
The Microsoft Step-by-Step series of Self-Learning Training Materials are designed for beginner-level to intermediate-level software users. The training materials provide invaluable hands-on practice so that trainees can create, modify and share work with ease. They acquire the skills needed, at their own pace and enjoy hands-on learning according to a schedule which suits them.
Software training offered by PT ForSS
The software training offered by PT ForSS is interactive and very informal. The aim is for trainees to acquire ‘hands-on’ skills that will be useful to employers. Trainees will acquire self-confidence in the use of popular Microsoft Office software (e.g. MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) but also less popular but very useful software applications (e.g. MS Access and MS Project)
The training materials are the excellent Step-by-Step series from Microsoft Press. The materials are in English, so, as well as acquiring software skills, trainees will improve their English.
Overall Aim of the Training
The overall aim is to make the Training effective and the best way to achieve this is to make the Training fun. The training activity is arranged to be more like entertainment than work. The emphasis is on self-learning and learning-by-doing. The trainees work in pairs, with one trainee reading the Training Manual and the other executing the ‘hands-on’ steps on the laptop (after about one hour, they switch, so that both of them get familiar with the training materials). Social interaction between the different pairs of trainees is strongly encouraged. Under this training concept, there is no teacher – the training materials are the teacher. Instead, PT ForSS provides mentors who assist the trainees to overcome any problems they encounter when executing the various steps listed in the manual.
The mentors are ‘on-standby’, to help the trainees overcome difficulties, if they can’t overcome them themselves (by working closely with their co-trainee). But for optimal learning, it is better if the trainees can overcome the problem themselves.
Trainees usually need support from the mentors to get started but fairly quickly they get used to the training method and can progress on their own, with only intermittent support from the mentors.
Practical aspects
The Training is delivered at the FSS Training Centre on Jl Baruga Raya in Antang, Eastern Makassar. Software Training and English conversation coaching are delivered on the ground floor. Relaxation and dancing coaching will take place on the upper floor, usually after the Software Training session is over. Once again, the emphasis is on having healthy fun and encouraging mingling and healthy interaction between the software trainees. The intention is that the FSS Training Centre will be more like a social club than a formal classroom.
Target Group and Training Schedule
The target group for the Software Training is young professionals who are starting their career or searching for their first job.
Accordingly, the timing of the training sessions has been chosen to make it convenient for people who are working.
There are 3 sessions per week (on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), with two flexible schedules:
An early-evening session (from 16:30 to 19:00); and
A mid-evening session (from 19:00 to 21:30)